HERKIMER - Of the six Dispatch-area wrestlers who reached the finals of Herkimer's invitational wrestling tournament on Saturday, all did so in easy fashion. First period pins were the norm in the early rounds for Camden's Dennis Hilts at 106, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill's Gage Patry at 152, Camden's Tom Confer at 160 and Canastota's Zack Zupan at 182, Wyatt Albanese at 195 and Jacob Morris at 285. Only two had decisions en route to the finals and those came in the semifinals. Once there they had very different experiences and Hilts' match against Dolgeville's Noah Handy set the tone for some close contests with five emerging as champions, and Canastota winning the tourney.

Camden's top lightweight upped his record to 10-3 for the season and 88-54 for his career with a 6-5 victory. Handy used a counter for a takedown to take the lead midway in the first period then Hilts evened things with a reverse. Hilts could not escape in the second period but his constant movement on the bottom made Handy work extremely hard to stay tied 2-2. Handy earned an early escape in the third period then Hilts took him down. handy broke back on top with a reversal while going out of bounds with 17 seconds to go. With a fresh start, Hilts switched for two reversal points in just four seconds and hung on for his 6-5 win.

Patry had trouble, but only in the opening seconds of his match with Central Square's Jerrett Norton. Norton threw Patry but it was out of bounds. Moments later Patry earned a takedown and added back points late in the first period. He countered two Norton throws later in the match for five-point moves and won by technical fall in 6:00.

Confer used a takedown midway in the first period of his title match at 160 with Watervliet's Tyler Touzin to take control then put him away with a great stepover and half nelson in the second period for a pin in 2:29.

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Zupan, the defending state champion in Division II, figured to have a tough title match with Carthage's Shane Brady, Division I's defending state runner-up. They traded great counters to stay scoreless in the first period then Zupan escaped in seconds to start the second. They traded some great counters again to keep it 1-0 going into the third and Brady escaped quickly to tie it 1-1. But Zupan earned a takedown on the line seconds later and Brady injured his right knee. He could not continue, so Zupan won by default.

Albanese had a similarly close match with Jamesville-DeWitt/CBA's Ben Honis in the finals at 195. Albanese used a counter for a takedown late in the first period then Honis escaped in the second. Albanese did likewise in the third and fought off a Honis takedown attempt at the horn to win 3-1.

The only Dispatch-area wrestler to lose in the finals was Morris. He was tied with Carthage's top-seeded Trevor Gibbons before being turned early in the second period and pinned in 2:14. Still, his points, like the champs and others in wrestlebacks, helped the Raiders pull away from a pack to win with 141.5 points. Carthage was second with 123.5 then came Dolgeville (122) and J-D/CBA (120.5).